The Care and Keeping Of Your Matchmaker
by Le Penguin
Summary: Sorey picks up a new babysitting client for some extra cash. He didn't exactly count on a six-year-old trying to hook him up with her older brother. (Sorey/Mikleo)
1. Sorey Versus Destiny

There was this book series called _The Babysitters' Club_ , you see. It was about a group of middle schoolers who made cash money (and, of course, lasting friendships) looking after other people's children. Occasionally they went on globe-hopping vacations, and solved a murder once or twice. It was the inspiration for Rose's latest money-making venture, as far as Sorey could tell – except instead of feeling like he was in a nurturing young adult fantasy world, he kind of felt like Rose was auctioning him off like a piece of meat to the highest bidder.

"And _here's_ our highest-rated male sitter! Five-foot-ten, top of his class, _first aid certified_ , and, get this, can achieve record-setting speed and distance rankings while encumbered with a bunch of five-year-olds!"

Rose squeezed his bicep, and glanced at their new client meaningfully. Sorey suppressed a sigh and tried to block out the memory of just how Rose got that data. He just needed to make some extra money – his mom already worked herself to the bone picking up shift after shift at the store, and sacrificed so much for him…the least he could do was pick up a part-time job or three to support his college fund and voracious reading habits. Things could be worse, Rose pimping him out aside.

The new client had a cozy little place, in a nice, wooded area of town. It was small, but definitely one of the more upper-class homes Sorey had ever set foot in – probably only someone with money to burn would be hiring him on this regularly. Every weekday, after school until nine PM – at twenty bucks an hour, it was certainly nothing to scoff at, and Sorey was stiff and nervous with the urge to make the best impression possible. Rose was a cutthroat negotiator, but making clients want to come back again and again – that was on him. He tried not to touch anything that looked expensive. Which was everything, unfortunately.

The woman who showed him inside had violet eyes and long brown hair, pulled back into a braid ending with a simple but elegant gold clip. She introduced herself as Muse, and began to show him around.

"…after my husband died, we moved in with my brother Michael. The upstairs room at the end of the hall is his office; he's not much for conversation, so don't disturb him. My son is your age, but he has his extracurriculars and schoolwork to worry about – you probably won't be seeing much of him, either. I'm a surgeon, and work odd shifts at the hospital, so most days, it'll just be you and Madeline. She gets home from first grade at 3:30, and I'll have you meet her at the front door and watch her until I get home."

Sorey felt eyes burning into the back of his skull. He turned around, slowly. A small girl gazed back intently. Her purple tutu stood out proudly and defiantly over her gray and white school uniform. _Gaze not into the void, for the void gazes back._ Wise words, and clearly came from someone engaging in a staring contest with a six-year-old.

"Mama," came Madeline's small voice. "Where is Mickey?"

"Upstairs, darling, but he's practicing his flute with his tutor, so why don't you introduce yourself to-"

Madeline was off like a shot; her princess tutu a glittering blur as she darted up the stairs. There was a thundering of powerful, tiny feet, then a door banging open – then that beautiful flute music that Sorey could have sworn was a recording in the background stopped with a faltering note.

So Sorey was dealing with a remarkably intelligent, and more worryingly, remarkably fast, young lady, who could not be trusted with her uncle or her older brother. Sorey had handled much more challenging children than this, and won them over with ease – things would be fine.

Madeline had finally, through his protests, dragged her brother down the stairs. Her…her gorgeous, gorgeous brother, with shining violet eyes and platinum white-blond hair so soft and thick and fine it looked like a cloud. His eyes settled on Sorey, and widened minutely. He was wearing glasses. Sorey never stood a chance. Madeline looked quite pleased with herself.

"Mickey's hair looks white but he's not old. You can babysit him too."

Sorey would sooner know what to do when faced with actual, literal royalty than not make a fool out of himself in front of this guy. Muse motioned for Madeline to come to her, and seemed surprised when she complied without protest. Madeline's smile was accomplished and devious.

"Thank you, Maddy, that was nice of you to introduce Sorey to Mikleo. That was so good of you to listen to mommy. Mikleo, this is Maddy's new sitter. He'll be taking care of her until nine on weeknights."

Mikleo couldn't quite look Sorey in the eyes as they shook hands. "H-hey."

Madeline had disengaged from her mother, and gotten ahold of some markers and paper and was furiously scribbling something in the kitchen. Sorey had never felt quite so overwhelmed in his life, in the face of a beautiful prep school flute prodigy and his beautiful home and his ER surgeon mother and his – disturbingly perceptive little sister. Was twenty bucks an hour really enough to make up for the heart palpitations he'd be having every day, knowing that someone like Mikleo was only ever a few rooms away? What if his mother was the one who would get stuck reviving him when he was eventually taken to the hospital for acute boneritis? It was a dreaded disease that struck all teenage boys in the face of their beautiful, stunning, totally-out-of-their-league crushes. There was no cure. Sorey was staring his death in the face, and his death was so, so pretty.

Mikleo gave Sorey a tight smile and slowly walked back upstairs to his lesson. Madeline appeared at Sorey's side, soundlessly. He knelt down to her level and gave her a smile – it was time to start getting to know his new charge, and time to stop salivating over her siblings. Madeline stuffed the piece of paper she had been working on into his hand.

"That is Mickey Mouse's schedule," she explained, matter-of-fact.

The paper Sorey was looking at was covered in unintelligible scribbles. There were two stick figures, one with brown hair, one with white. They were holding hands, and there was a rainbow overhead. There was a stick figure wearing a purple tutu riding a surfboard on the rainbow. It was quite an intricate scene, and Sorey was impressed.

"Do not call him Mickey Mouse. That is only for me. But you'll be his boyfriend now." Madeline patted Sorey's head, magnanimously. "I know."


	2. Mikleo Versus His Nonexistent Love Life

Mikleo loved his little sister dearly, but by god, could she be frustrating.

It was normal for young children who had lost a parent to cling to older siblings and other authority figures, Mikleo's therapist had told him. After their father died, it was hard for all of them – hard for Mikleo, harder still for his mother, and so confusing for Maddy, barely old enough to know him, and certainly not old enough to process the chaos going on around her. They'd moved in with his uncle, then; not to save money (Mikleo's mother brought in plenty of that at the hospital), but to try and provide some form of stability.

Which, in retrospect, was a laughable concept. Uncle Michael was a successful travel writer and gave anthropology and archaeology lectures at universities across the country, but travelling through ancient temple sites and exploring the deepest jungles did not prepare him in any way for suddenly becoming co-caretaker to two children reeling from loss. Mikleo didn't even see him most days – when he wasn't locked in his study at home, he was locked in his office at the local university. Mikleo took a few courses there to take advantage of the free tuition for family members, and often saw a crowd of students waiting outside his door; trying in vain to make him adhere to his posted office hours. Mikleo had seen him out of his study at home all of once in the past few months – it was 3AM, Mikleo wandered into the kitchen to get a granola bar, and Uncle Michael was sitting on the floor in pink sweatpants eating directly from the ice cream tub with a wooden kitchen spoon.

They locked eyes for a long moment.

"Don't tell your mother I stole her pants," Uncle Michael said, finally.

With Uncle Michael the equivalent of a raccoon living in the walls as far as appropriate babysitters for young children went, Mikleo's mother had to hire out the job of caring for Maddy. Mikleo tried to watch her whenever he could, but he had so much going on, with studying, extra courses, extracurricular clubs, flute practice…well, maybe he should stop calling the kettle black with Uncle Michael. He himself was hardly better.

Though he at least used a goddamn bowl like a civilized human.

Maddy was a "bright and imaginative" child, according to her kindergarten and first grade report cards. Reading between the lines, it also meant she was a handful with a steamroller will. She went through her babysitters like tissue paper; all to make sure that her "Mickey Mouse" knew that he was her number one babysitter, and none would ever come close.

It was sweet. It was flattering, almost. But god, why was this babysitter next on the chopping block?

He was about Mikleo's age, with chocolate-brown hair and shining green eyes and tan skin. He was pushing six foot and looked like he could lift Mikleo above his head with only one arm. He was just about everything Mikleo daydreamed about during dull moments at band practice, and he was about to get chased away by a wolverine in a purple tutu. With his skinny, shrimpy body and quiet demeanor, Mikleo knew that this Sorey guy was already completely out of his league – and he probably already had a boyfriend, or girlfriend. But Mikleo could've at least had the opportunity to stare at him hopelessly out his bedroom window, if Maddy didn't have it in her head that she needed to destroy every babysitter thrown at her.

There was a wolverine at his bedroom door. Mikleo arched an eyebrow at her devious little smile.

"Sorey and me and mama want to get ice cream," Maddy said, airily. "I know Mickey Mouse wants it too."

Mikleo had finished up with his flute lesson. More like he'd finished disappointing his tutor, completely unable to follow the music after being so completely distracted by the ridiculously hot babysitter sitting in his living room. He had homework to do, and didn't exactly want to know what Maddy was planning to pull in a public ice cream shop to make Sorey run off.

"Maddy, that's nice of you, but I-"

"HE WANTS ICE CREAM!" Maddy said, much more firmly. She marched into his room and seized his wrists, trying in vain to physically wrest him from his seat. Feet planted firmly, she slowly began to slide under his chair. "HE WANTS TO COME WITH US!"

To prevent Maddy from turning further into some sort of Gollum-esque creature, Mikleo rose to his feet. Maddy's grip remained on his wrists, and she kicked her feet in the air petulantly.

"I'll loan Mickey a tutu," she said. "He'll look pretty."

Maybe if Mikleo came with, he could do damage control on whatever she had planned. He hoped.


	3. Sorey Versus Mikleo: Dinner Deathmatch

On Wednesdays, Sorey got a ride from his mother to school. It was at her insistence – with the multiple jobs she worked to make ends meet, they rarely got any meaningful time together. Sorey's biological father was always coming up with new, creative, and underhanded ways to get out of paying child support, so they'd long since stopped relying on any money from that end. Over the years, they'd learned to scrimp, and save, and go without – but his mother always went out of her way to keep her Wednesday mornings open, no matter what jobs she had on her plate, to drop Sorey off at school on her salvaged, souped-up, beloved, ultra-cool motorcycle. It was a vintage hand-me-down from his grandpa, and the magnificent creature was kept in top shape with his mom's thrifty gearhead skills. It was his mother's second son, and Sorey's own little brother. His loud, fast little brother.

They zipped down the streets, Sorey's arms wrapped tight around his mother's waist as she steered them toward his high school.

"I HEARD FROM ROSE THAT YOU GOT A NEW BABYSITTING JOB?" shouted Selene over the noise of the wind and the engine.

"WHAT?" shouted Sorey over the noise of the same.

"I HEARD FROM ROSE THAT YOU GOT A NEW BABYSITTING JOB!"

"YEAH, I GOT A NEW JOB. IT'S FOR BABYSITTING. ROSE SET IT UP FOR ME."

"WHO DID? I THOUGHT IT WAS ROSE?"

"ROSE GOT IT FOR ME, MOM."

"OH, THAT'S NICE OF HER. SHE'S GOT THAT BUSINESS SENSE."

"SHE SMELLS LIKE WHAT?"

"BUSINESS SENSE!"

"OH. YEAH, I GUESS SHE DOES KINDA SMELL LIKE THAT."

The rush of wind around them filled the silence as Sorey struggled to pick through his mother's odd choice of metaphor.

"…SO, WHAT'S THE NEW LITTLE ONE LIKE?" Selene prompted again.

Sorey was again silent, trying to figure out the best way to phrase his feelings.

 _She's sweet, but keeps trying to hook me up with her older sibling, and not that I don't totally appreciate the effort because he's so beautiful I could cry, but he's clearly so not interested in me, so it's just kinda pouring salt in the wound when she knocks my ice cream into his lap and insists I help him clean up._

"…FIRST GRADE. VERY SPUNKY."

All too soon, they arrived at Sorey's school. They always seemed to have an audience waiting for them on Wednesdays – not that he could blame them, he guessed; his mom's bike WAS awesome. But he would never have expected so much of his school to be interested in motorcycles. Sorey hopped off the back of the bike and handed his helmet back to his mom. His mom popped up her visor to crack a smile at Sorey, and a chorus of sequels and sighs broke out among the gathered crowd. A few students passed out.

"Have a great day at school, Sorey. Love you lots."

"Love you too, mom," said Sorey. He leaned in to give his mother a hug, her leather jacket soft and warm against his cheek. "Have a great day at work!"

As she drove off, Rose strolled up. She rested her hand on Sorey's shoulder, her face twisted in some sort of profound thought.

"Man." She whistled low. "I'm more into blondes, but I can definitely see the appeal."

Sorey tilted his head. The crowd began to disperse, the fainted students were dragged by their limbs up the hillside and, more painfully, up the stairs. "Appeal?"

Rose shook her head. "Someday I've gotta give you that birds and bees talk. Anyway, let's walk and talk – how did the sitting job go? Since you decided not to respond to my texts yesterday."

Sorey groaned and clutched the back of his neck with one hand, rubbing at the tension there. He didn't really want to talk to anyone about anything yesterday once he got back from the ice cream disaster. He'd gotten home, contemplated the cold and unfeeling void of the universe, ate some mac & cheese, read a library book, and went to bed; too exhausted to even wake up when his mom got home past midnight. But, Rose was the one who helped him get these jobs, even the disastrous ones; she deserved to know the important details. And if denied, she'd find out anyway. By any means necessary.

So, Sorey spilled the beans. On Maddy, on Mikleo, on dumping ice cream on Mikleo, by Maddy proxy. Rose was absolutely howling by the end.

"Man, Sorey, you could've at least gone back home with him to help him with laundry! Maybe loaned him your shirt to wear, maybe help him up to sit on the washing machine while it runs, maybe make out with him a little during the spin cycle."

Sorey sputtered and turned bright red. "W-why would I need to lend him my shirt, it was his pants, Rose, the pants got the ice cream on them-"

"Well, you didn't object to the idea of laundromat hanky-panky, that's telling." Rose grabbed Sorey by the shoulder, and waited until he looked at her. "Are you comfortable with this client? If you're legit too embarrassed to go back, or think you won't be able to do your job with Pretty Prince Prep School flittering around, I'll assign someone else before the kid gets too attached to you."

And therein laid the issue. On the way to the ice cream shop, Muse had quietly explained to Sorey about Maddy's…tendency to drive off babysitters. Her late father had been a stay-at-home parent, and with his passing, she profoundly and loudly rejected any other caretakers. But her behavior toward Sorey, Muse said, was different. She had taken to him like no other. If he got too overwhelmed, Muse assured him that he should always be certain to take care of himself first, but with how good he was with Maddy already – well, Muse would pay him handsomely for his time.

The money was a factor, sure. Twenty bucks an hour was great, and certainly more than most clients were willing to pay. But it was about Maddy, too. Sorey was apparently the first babysitter she hadn't attempted to murder on sight. What kind of person would he be to abandon her just because he didn't think he could keep his dick in his pants with her brother around?

"I'm fine," Sorey assured Rose. "It'll be fine."

"Good, because I contacted the client last night and she's already interested in booking you for the foreseeable future. You got any clients you really want to hold onto or am I gonna have you down as her personal sitter?"

"…Well," Sorey said. He guessed that would be the case from his conversation with Muse, but it was flattering to hear. "There's one."

Sparrowfeather Babysitting Services contracted their talent to private businesses as well, such as daycares. Butterfly Wing Daycare was one of these businesses – a local outfit, run by an older woman out of her home. Tabatha wasn't just good with children; she was also the only one who could out-smell Rose when it came to business sense. Thing was, Sorey had seen enough Breaking Bad (at Rose's house, watching an episode or two every so often, getting concerned that Rose was starting to get Ideas) to recognize what a money laundering front looked like. Sorey wasn't entirely comfortable being used as a chess piece between a highly-motivated high school business tycoon and a maybe-probably mob leader, but the "daycare" part of the business was at least legitimate. They provided high-quality care for low-income children, and Sorey was a regular feature as an after-school helper when he didn't have other sitting jobs or commitments.

Today, he was helping for a few hours before he was off to visit Maddy's house – Muse had invited him over for dinner to help him get to know Maddy better, and of course that meant Mikleo was likely to be there too, and that meant Sorey would have to stare his crush in the face the day after he'd dumped ice cream on his crotch in public. He'd loaned him his jacket – _not_ his shirt, quick to push Rose's laundromat scenario out of his mind for the fourth time that day – to tie around his waist on the walk home which he really needed back, all things considered. He only had the one, and it was still pretty chilly out. He'd have to try to keep clean at daycare today so he didn't show up a wreck.

Easier said than done, though. Today was a pretty rambunctious group.

Velvet howled in bone-deep fury as Sorey gently bent down to pick up her little brother and her nephew. Both needed a diaper change, but Velvet was quite the overprotective sort, even with someone she knew as well as Sorey. Sorey smiled at her, and made no effort to disengage her dangling death grip on the front of his shirt.

"Do you want to help me change Laphi and Phi today, Velvet?" he asked.

"Pbbblltlt!" said Phi, excited at the prospect. Despite Laphi's full diaper, he was out like a light, snoring gently behind his pacifier.

Velvet scowled up at him, but nodded, regardless. Baby in one hand, baby in the other, furious four-year-old dangling from his front, Sorey cautiously but confidently walked over to the changing area. Sorey was confident in his ability to wrangle all ages of kids, but sweet babies like Phi were a joy to work with. Phi clapped delightedly at the feeling of a fresh dry diaper on his bottom, and giggled as Sorey buttoned him back into his onesie and tickled his tummy. His single lock of hair curled atop his head like a halo. Velvet yanked at Sorey's wrist, and he dutifully allowed her to continue tickle duty while he moved on to changing Laphi. Laphi didn't wake up once through the diaper change, except to sneeze out his pacifier in an explosion of spit and mucus. All kids were pretty gross sometimes, but babies did take the cake. Sorey swapped a fresh pacifier into his mouth without batting an eye, preventing a rude awakening. Laphi slept soundly under Velvet's watchful gaze, and Sorey skillfully gathered both babies up and settled down into a rocking chair to tempt Phi into dozing off as well. Sweet baby he might be, but he turned into a little terror when he missed his naps.

Velvet was eyeing the free space on Sorey's lap when another friend came up to play. This friend was wearing a pink witch hat and hauling behind her a battered top-hat-wearing teddy bear, and was a friend Sorey hoped and prayed would behave herself while he was trying to get two babies to sleep.

"I put a curse on you!" shrieked Maggie Lou, swinging her teddy bear down on Velvet's head. "I am an evil witch!"

So much for that. Velvet roared and tackled her to the ground, barreling them through the block castle Velvet had been building around her babies a scant few minutes ago. It was a situation that required expert defusing.

"Velvet and Maggie," Sorey said, firmly. "We've covered this before. My magic earrings mean that no curses work at daycare."

Sorey shook his head back and forth to make his feathered earrings jiggle. Phi giggled again and tried to grab at them. Maggie Lou pouted mightily.

"But I got my witch hat on," she objected.

"Sorry, my magic earrings are a gift from a wise old dragon. They can't be beat by a witch hat."

In truth, he made his magic earrings as a fourth-grade art project; with matching pairs for his mom and grandpa. Regardless, they were indeed proven to guard against witch curses. Maggie Lou huffed and hurled her teddy bear across the room.

"Now, that's not a good way to treat a friend," Sorey said gently. "Why don't you go pick up your bear and ask Velvet nicely if she'd like to play with you? I think Velvet might like to spend some time in the pillow pit, since her babies are pretty tuckered out."

Maggie Lou looked Velvet up and down. Velvet scowled at her right back.

"…MEET ME IN THE PIT!" Maggie Lou screamed at the top of her lungs, and then ran at top speed to belly flop into the pillow nest.

Velvet rolled her eyes and stalked up to Sorey. He leaned down just enough to let Velvet plant gentle kisses on the babies' heads.

"Thank you for playing with Maggie, Velvet. She doesn't quite know how to ask people things nicely just yet."

"Yeah, yeah," Velvet scoffed. "You had better give Phi his binky when he goes to sleep. I'll know."

"I will," Sorey promised.

Yesterday had been one of the most amazing and most mortifying days of Mikleo's short life.

He'd had a normal day at school, and a normal music lesson. And then he'd come face-to-face with a living checklist of all the things he found attractive. And then his little sister dumped ice cream in his lap in public, right in front of said living checklist. God, he couldn't even look him in the eye on the whole walk home. And Sorey just had to be so gentle, and understanding, and _apologetic_ – as if it was his fault Maddy decided to use his ice cream as ammunition – and even loaned him his jacket to cover him up.

Was it objectively creepy that Mikleo went to sleep cuddled up with said jacket that night? Yes, it indeed was. But Mikleo needed some comfort in his life after being publicly humiliated in front of his crush, and if falling asleep while wrapped up in Sorey's smell was what it took to not feel so personally targeted by the cruel whims of fate, well, what more could you ask of him?

And then his mother just had to set up this dinner thing to let Maddy further victimize him in front of Sorey. Was this her new tactic in getting rid of babysitters? Terrorism by proxy? He thought his mother was sympathetic to his plight – she seemed to recognize how embarrassed he was, and let him eat dinner in his room while she tended to his pants. But now she was just setting up more opportunities for Mikleo to be harassed in front of the most quantitatively gorgeous person he'd ever set eyes on. Maybe he should just go to the university library to study; or more accurately, stare at his books for three long hours, absorb nothing, and slink home under cover of darkness, cursing the machinations of fate.

Alas, he had another music lesson first. And a tutor who'd never let him live yesterday down.

"So, were you too busy cozying up with your baby sister's new nanny yesterday to do any practicing? Sure seems like it."

Mikleo glowered at his tutor across his sheet music. His tutor Edna was an old friend of his mother's; classmates in undergrad, and had known Mikleo since he was nothing but a squalling, red-faced ball of blankets. She was like an aunt to him as much as she was his tutor. Normally he tried to let her teasing roll off him – water off a duck's back. But with the ice cream wound still raw, it was more like molasses on a duck's back – sticky, gumming up his feathers, and distracting him even more from whatever etudes he'd been assigned for warmups. Edna's eyebrows rose at his reaction.

"Youth," she snorted, after a long pause. She flipped to the next page of music and began to play him in on piano.

Mikleo briefly considered making a crack about her height in response, but decided against it – he wanted to get practice over with as soon as possible, and not be subject to Edna's "Dagobah Training" (which consisted of being forced to play his flute while carrying Edna around on his back). That would be just the thing he needed Sorey to see after yesterday to really cement him in his mind as a complete weirdo.

"If I didn't know any better, it would seem as though our little Meebo is trying to rush through his very important flute practice," Edna said as Mikleo finished another etude. If Sorey got here and Edna called Mikleo that in front of him, he would just pack everything up and flee to the woods. They would hear his haunting flute music on the night wind and remember. "I wonder if it's because he still needs to pick out a cute little outfit and do his hair for his big dinner date tonight."

"It is not a date!" Mikleo snapped, finally. "And I'm not eating dinner here anyway. I need to catch the bus to the university soon, so I'm sure Andersen will forgive me for rushing these etudes."

"Dunno about that. Ol' Carl-Joachim was a cantankerous windbag, I hear. I don't think he'd like to hear you tumbling through his tarantella just so you can get tarted up for your date."

"Well, I'm sure you can pass my apologies to him personally the next time you two meet for your class reunion," Mikleo said. He paused, and then huffed again. "And, like I said, I'm _not_ going to dinner, and even if I was, it's _not_ a date."

With that, Mikleo lifted his flute to his lips to begin again, and took a deep breath.

"Mikleo, come downstairs! Sorey's here and dinner's almost ready!" came Muse's voice.

The deep breath came out as an agonizing shriek through the flute, and Edna gave a devious little grin, even as she rubbed at her ear.

"My, my. A bit early, isn't he? Best that little Meebo scurry off and pop a breath mint before heading down."

No, no, no, no. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no. Mikleo wasn't ready to face this. He never would be, and that was the whole point of him running off to the university library for the rest of his life. Would he be able to escape out his bedroom window? They were on the second floor, but maybe if Mikleo landed in a bush, or rigged a ladder from his bedsheets –

Muse opened the door to the study, smiling as if she wasn't the warden leading Mikleo to his execution. Mikleo solemnly packed up his flute and papers, rose, and trudged after Edna as she serenely trotted out before him.

"Edna, this is Sorey, Maddy's new sitter," Muse said. Sorey smiled warmly, and offered his hand to shake. "Sorey, this is Mikleo and Maddy's music tutor, Edna."

"So this is the new nanny," Edna said, delicately shaking Sorey's hand with just her fingertips. "Both of the little scamps in this house just can't stop talking about you."

"Edna teaches me violin!" Maddy interjected loudly. She was furiously koala-hugging Sorey's leg. "I like her because I'll be taller than her soon!"

Edna's eye twitched. Mikleo was not quite done with being furious at his sister yet, but he felt some affection resurface.

"That sounds like so much fun, Maddy," said Sorey. "I used to play violin, too. I'd love to see what you've learned some time."

Maddy beamed up at him adoringly. Mikleo was immediately put back on edge. What was she _planning_?

"Well, would love to stay and chat, but my ride's here," said Edna. She fetched her parasol and shoes, and opened the front door – a sleek black car with tinted windows idled outside, in a fashion that could only be called "looming". Her chauffeur was also looming outside the passenger side of the car; Edna's brother, a massive bear of a man who nonetheless jumped whenever Edna said jump, and waited around outside for hours when Edna said likewise. He wore a black tailored suit and sunglasses that likely cost more than Mikleo's monthly school tuition. Mikleo had no idea where he got his money, but figured it was best he didn't ever find out.

With Edna gone, it now fell to Mikleo to make his escape or face death. Death in the shape of a gorgeous guy who was great with kids, played violin, had pecs the size of Mikleo's head, and…Mikleo peered down at the magazine clutched in Sorey's hand. Sorey handed it over to him, almost embarrassed, for some reason.

"Sorry. I came in and saw some _Archaeology Today_ journals on your coffee table. That article on our local university is great – I'd love to check out that online 3-D catalogue of cave paintings they've been compiling, if they ever make it available to the public."

Mikleo knew about that catalogue. In fact, he had helped the graduate students code and compile some of it for college credit. In fact, Uncle Michael was in charge of the whole thing, and would be presenting it at the university's summer symposium. He would also be announcing at the summer symposium that he would be making the whole catalogue free to the public, because "fuck your capitalist barriers to scientific advancement and fuck you". Uncle Michael didn't speak in public often but tended to cap off the speeches he did make with the same thing.

"I could show you the beta," Mikleo blurted out, his fear of death overcome by the urge to show off a bit. "If you're interested."

Sorey's eyes went wide, and a smile lit bright upon his face. If Mikleo thought before that he could outrun this crush, well, that was all over now.

It was a wonderful, magical evening. It was simply the only way to describe it. Once Maddy had shown off all her toys and her violin to Sorey, she quietly adhered to her bedtime; allowing Muse to carry her off to bed without complaint – and allowing Mikleo to produce his laptop, connect to the university database, and bask gloriously (and gaze adoringly) at the excitement radiating off of Sorey.

"This is going to revolutionize the field! It's incredible, Mikleo! A full 3-D index of cave paintings across the world, available to the public – you're so amazing to be involved with this, it must be so exciting-"

Truth be told, Uncle Michael and his graduate students had done most of the hardest work; flattering as it was, Sorey was really overestimating Mikleo's involvement. Mikleo pushed up his glasses with his thumb and tried to will the redness from his cheeks.

"I mean…I helped with the rendering, and indexing, and the tagging system…compared to the others involved, it's not much."

Sorey turned around, that sunshine smile he'd been wearing for the past hour still plastered on his face. Oh, Mikleo's heart was singing.

"That's just as amazing," Sorey said, confident in the statement. "I've always dreamed of doing something just like this…travelling across the world, sharing incredible things with the public, really showing everyone how exciting the world around them is…"

 _Do you want me to get the project lead down here?_ , Mikleo thought. _He's probably sitting on the floor of his study in sweatpants, eating gummi worms and sending inflammatory emails to the university's professor listserv._

"I…we could use some more help. Not that I'm behind on my work," Mikleo clarified. "But there's still quite a lot of tagging to be done. It's simple work even for someone not familiar with the subject matter-"

"Oh, I'm familiar with it," Sorey said, cutting him off. "I recognize most of these. Had a cave painting phase after my dinosaur phase as a kid."

Mikleo's eyes narrowed.

"Well, I guess you'd be up to a challenge, then. I'll get you your own login, and we'll have a race to tag the rest of the database. Geographical location, time period, subject and medium."

Sorey's eyes sparkled. "You're on. What's the prize for the winner?"

"Loser takes the winner out for dinner," Mikleo blurted out.

He couldn't believe the words that had just tumbled their way out of his mouth. Mikleo felt his whole face redden; his ears and neck likewise. Sorey's eyes went wide, and his mouth snapped shut. Oh god, Mikleo wanted to take the words back. Maybe Sorey would be willing to pretend he didn't hear Mikleo trying to make things weird, and Mikleo could keep talking to him about archaeology, and history, and art, and music, and – and everything.

But the sunshine smile beamed forth once more, and Mikleo felt just about ready to float away.

"Sounds great."

Upstairs, Maddy listened in on the proceedings on the walkie-talkie she had planted in the living room, and smiled a triumphant smile.


End file.
